Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media ahead of Celtic’s dead rubber Glasgow Derby clash against theRangers at Ibrox this afternoon. Here’s everything that was said…
Q: Can we start with a squad update ahead of the weekend, how’s your squad looking?
Brendan Rodgers: “We’ve got a few knocks. Obviously Jota will be out and sadly for us and for him he’ll be out for a period of time, probably six to nine months. It’s the cruciate and it was worse than we’d hoped really, so he starts on his journey of recovery from that now, but somewhere between six and nine months.
“Ali Johnston won’t be available, Ali’s been needing an injection into his hip that he’s had for a period of time. To ensure he was ready for the cup final and in our preparation we decided that we would do that after the Dundee United game. So I picked him out of the game at the weekend and most probably the St Mirren game and that gives him a few weeks then to be ready for the cup final.
“Dane Murray had an issue with his knee and he’ll be out for the rest of the season and then be ready for pre-season. We’ve got Yang back, Yang’s back training with the squad so we’ll give him one more day tomorrow and then we’ll see if he’s going to be available for the squad.”
Q: Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn weren’t seen in training, are they okay?
Brendan Rodgers: “Daizen should be fine and Nicolas was out, we’re just assessing him and a slight issue with his knee but he should be okay. We had the scan on that, it’s just a little bit of bruising but he should be okay.”
Q: And on the game itself, obviously the final one of the season, what are your thoughts on this one?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, this is a game that is all about pride and as I said we’ve proved our point over the course of this season in terms of our performance level, consistency. I think the challenge in these games is that we’ve been so comfortable going into the game and I felt that has really disrupted our mindset. When it was win or bust in the cup final we won it, because that’s it, these games we’ve been so comfortable and even though you’re pushing, I know what these games mean to supporters and what it means to myself and the club.
“It just can be that little bit in the back of the mind that you’re 13 points clear or 16 points clear and so that has taken a fraction of an edge off that you don’t want but there’s maybe a subconscious thing there. But this year, this is our last game, we are fighting for the pride of our team and also for our supporters because we lost the last game at Ibrox, deservedly so. We shouldn’t have lost the game at home but we did and we have to make that right in the last game.”
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